North Jersey: No. 8 Wayne Hills, No. 10 St. Joseph Clash

Wayne Hills coach Chris Olsen has many things on his mind going into his game with St. Joseph of Montvale, No. 10 in The Star-Ledger Top 20. How does he slow down St. Joseph's host of quick and elusive ball carriers? And, although St. Joseph coach Tony Karcich is concerned basically about one aspect of the game, containing Wayne Hills tailback Brian Dowling, that will be no less perplexing.No. 8 Wayne Hills (8-0) and St. Joseph (5-2) will meet Saturday, at 2:30 p.m., in Montvale.Last season, St. Joseph ended Wayne Hills' 55-game winning streak with a 17-15 victory on Oct. 2. So, there will be some revenge on the minds of the Wayne Hills players. In its last 72 games, the Passaic County team is 70-2.Last Friday, Dowling set a single game school record with 46 carries and picked up 324 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-14 victory over now 13th-ranked Ramapo. He also returned an interception for a score from his defensive back position.For the season, Dowling has scored 25 touchdowns and 150 points, 46 percent of Wayne Hills total points. He's rushed for 1,273 yards and caught passes for 270. He's totaled 1,543 yards, 57 percent of his team's total yards. ``Brian's one of the best players in the state,'' Olsen said. ``He's fast and strong, can run and catch passes and is an outstanding defensive back. He makes problems for the other team because he's multi-dimensional and hard to account for.''Jake Schunke, Pete Daibes and brothers Jason and Justin Avedissian provide the openings on the offensive line for Dowling.St. Joseph will rely on no less than four backs to churn out the yards. Speedster Presley Beauvais, Dane McDermott, John Sanford and Max Havlusch will all see time and quarterback Chris Andrews adds to the ground attack.``I'm also concerned about how big and physical their offensive line is,'' Olsen said.The coach is speaking of Alain Leneus (6-0, 295) and Chris Picinic (6-4, 260).``Against them, we'll have to run the ball and, on defense, stop the speed sweeps and fullback traps.''